Inventor of Safety Airbag Deployment Device Sues, Alleging Theft of Technology

OCALA, Fla.--May 1, 2006--New Lenox Industries, a developer and manufacturer of vehicle airbag systems, has filed a lawsuit, claiming that a former industry consultant stole technology to create a device that allows airbags to open more safely.

The lawsuit, filed in Florida's Marion County Circuit Court, involves millions of automobiles equipped with this technology - and potentially tens of millions of dollars in royalty payments.

"At stake in this lawsuit is the ownership of core technology used in automotive airbag systems," says New Lenox Industries' lead attorney, G. Donovan Conwell.

Dunnellon, Florida-based New Lenox Industries alleges in the lawsuit that Charles Fenton, a former vice president of Morton International, Inc., one of the world's leading manufacturers of airbags for the automotive industry, evaluated new technology developed by New Lenox that successfully used cold gas to inflate airbags. The airbag industry struggled for years without success to develop a cold gas airbag inflation system to replace the conventional hot gas airbag deployment systems, which inflated at such high temperatures that they often caused severe burns on the skin of users.

After examining New Lenox's cold gas system, Mr. Fenton, who had pledged in a confidentiality agreement not to divulge or make use of this proprietary technology, told the company that its technology was "the foundation for the next generation" of automotive airbag products, but years from being ready for market, according to the lawsuit.

However, the lawsuit alleges that Mr. Fenton then began licensing cold gas airbag technology to the airbag industry which used the revolutionary airbag technology developed by New Lenox. The lawsuit alleges that Fenton created California based AirBelt Systems to market airbag systems which use the technology that Fenton stole from New Lenox.

"A working cold gas airbag inflator was the Holy Grail of the vehicle safety industry, and New Lenox developed it," explains New Lenox attorney Mr. Conwell. "New Lenox owns this technology and will vigorously protect its ownership."

Mr. Conwell is one of the founding partners of the Tampa- and Tallahassee, Florida-based law firm, Conwell, Sukhia & Kirkpatrick, P.A., which specializes in intellectual property and technology law.